


Gambling

by queenofkadara



Series: Underneath It All: Fenris & Rynne Hawke [2]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Early Act 2 shenanigans, F/M, Fenris is angsty about feelings and sex, Flirting, Hawke is bad at cards, Isabela is trying to be a matchmaker in her own special way, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 16:06:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16349771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofkadara/pseuds/queenofkadara
Summary: When Hawke loses horrendously at cards, Isabela convinces her to pay her debt to Fenris in an interesting way.





	Gambling

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Timeline-wise, this is some Act 1 to early-Act 2 flirtation. Consider this a warm-up as I work these two toward the sex and drama to come. (Feel free to subscribe to the series for updates.)
> 
> This is also a prompt fill for @cutieink on Tumblr, of the following Fictober 2018 prompt: "This is not new. It only feels like it."

With all the care of a mother laying down a child, Hawke laid her cards on the table.

The party instantly dissolved into an uproar of laughter and jeering. Varric chuckled and shook his head, and Sebastian absolutely roared with mirth while Anders pounded his fist on the table. Merrill wrung her hands and dithered about Hawke taking poor risks; meanwhile, Isabela began insulting the Fereldan mage with gleeful relish. 

Aveline, on the other hand, shook her head in dismay. “Hawke, why would you raise the stakes so high with such a terrible hand? What were you thinking?” she scolded. 

Hawke smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “I tried to bluff! Bluffing normally works so well when we visit the Gallows. Cullen still believes that Anders is just practicing voices for an independent opera production at the Blooming Rose.” She winked at Fenris.

Fenris just shook his head and folded his arms. “You don’t have enough coin to pay off the raise, do you?”

“Nope, she doesn’t,” Varric interjected. “I’ve been counting.”

Hawke shot him a mock-offended look. “You’ve been counting my coin? Isn’t that cheating?”

“It’s only cheating if he counts your cards, not your coin,” Sebastian replied. “And that’s only for certain games. I still can’t believe you don’t know this, Hawke.” He grinned at her as he sipped his water.

She threw her hands up in exasperation. “I’m a late bloomer with this game, all right? So sue me!”

“No one’s going to sue,” Fenris drawled. “But you have to pay your debt to me. I am winning, after all.” He raised one challenging eyebrow at her. 

Her bright coppery eyes darted to his face, and Fenris fought back a smile at the mischievous smirk that dimpled her cheeks. “Well, Fenris, as you so smugly pointed out, I’ve got no coin left,” she said. “So what do you suggest?”

“Give him the shirt off your back,” Isabela interrupted. Her arms were folded and her smile was broad and wicked, and Fenris watched curiously as Hawke abruptly elbowed the brazen pirate. 

“Bels,” she hissed. 

Aveline rolled her eyes. “Of course _you_ would suggest making it a stripping game. Trollop,” she said primly.

“Prude,” Isabela returned absently, but her eyes were still on Hawke. She elbowed the mage in return and jerked her chin in Fenris’s direction. “Go on, Hawke, give him your shirt. That’s sure to balance the scales. Isn’t that right, Fenris?” 

Varric grumbled something about a perfectly good card game being dragged off the rails, and Merrill began twittering to Aveline about humans and cards and getting naked, but Fenris ignored them; he was too busy watching as Hawke’s cheeks warmed to a rosy pink. 

Finally Hawke scoffed and rolled her eyes at Isabela. “Fine, I’ll give him my shirt. But only if you take yours off too, you cheeky bitch.” Fenris noted with interest that Hawke wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Isabela cackled, then pushed back from the table. “Done,” she declared.

Aveline groaned. “Oh Maker’s breath, Hawke, don’t encourage her...”

It was too late. Isabela had already pulled off her thigh-length tunic, leaving her practically naked except for her boots, bright blue brassière, and leather shorts that were hardly more than smallclothes. The brazen pirate carelessly tossed her tunic at Sebastian, then turned to Hawke with a complacent smirk. “There. Your turn, sweet thing.”

Sebastian abruptly rose from the table, almost knocking his chair over in the process. “I have to go and, er, pray. Thank you for the hospitality, Hawke, I’ll see you tomorrow-” He bolted from the table, chased by another wave of laughter and jeering from the rest of the group.

Fenris, meanwhile, kept his eyes on Hawke. She’d finally deigned to meet his gaze, and now it seemed that neither of them could look away. Her expression was more than just the usual mischief. There was something intense in the cant of her eyebrows or the heat of her dark golden eyes, and Fenris simply watched her, waiting to see what she would do. 

Finally she rose to her feet. In one smooth motion, she pulled her loose silk tunic over her head. 

Isabela and Anders hooted encouragement, and Merrill giggled and covered her face while Varric and Aveline shook their heads and groaned. Without breaking from his gaze, Hawke tossed her tunic across the table and into his lap. 

“Satisfied?” she said.

Fenris wasn’t satisfied - not by far. The blood in his veins felt like it was pumping too fast, a surge of heat and something undeniably feral that started low in his abdomen and burned up into his chest.

Without moving his eyes from her face, he studied her half-bared body from the periphery of his vision. A wicked-looking pattern of black ink traced back from her left collarbone over her shoulder, and he could see hints of the tattoo curling around the edge of her ribs. Her breasts weren’t nearly as generous as Isabela’s, and her simple leather bustier was nowhere near as ornamental as the pirate’s blue lace, but that simple leather bustier was the sole focus of Fenris’s attention. 

His mouth was dry. His pulse pounded in his ears. He _liked_ her simple bustier. He wanted to see the curves that lay beneath it. He wanted- 

“Rynne, darling? I’m home!”

Fenris jolted out of his salacious reverie as Leandra Amell’s voice drifted up from the foyer. Varric snickered as Hawke’s expression transformed from a look of heated challenge to sheer panic. 

“Shit!” she squeaked, and Merrill gasped as Hawke suddenly lunged across the table toward Fenris. 

Fenris froze. Her supple body, her maddeningly hidden breasts coming closer, the subtle cleft of her cleavage as she surged toward him, her left hand on the table, her right hand reaching toward his lap- 

She grabbed her silken tunic from his lap, then scrambled back toward her chair as Isabela crowed with delighted mirth. “What in the Maker’s massive balls is she doing home? I thought she’d be gone all night,” Hawke hissed as she roughly hauled her tunic back on. She ran her fingers through her chestnut hair, then pointed at the still-cackling Isabela. “Can one of you get this one to put her top back on?” she demanded, then ran off toward the stairs. “Mother! I thought you’d be with Uncle Gamlen until…”

Her voice disappeared to the lower level of the house, and Varric sighed happily. “I guess the party’s over, then,” he said. He started gathering the cards as Aveline began collecting their many empty bottles.

“There’s never a dull moment with her, is there?” Anders chirped. He rose to help Aveline with the bottles as Merrill scurried off, muttering something about a rag to wipe the table. 

Fenris slowly rose from his chair and wandered toward the liquor table. He knew he should probably help the others to tidy the detritus of the evening, but he felt oddly off-balance. 

He leaned his elbows on the railing and gazed vacantly down at the fireplace. _This is not new,_ he told himself. _It only feels like it._ But it was hard to convince himself when this was the only attraction he could recall.

A moment later, a fully-dressed Isabela sidled up to him. “We’re heading out,” she said. “But you should stay.” 

Her tone was innocent - which, for Isabela, indicated that she meant to be nothing of the sort. Fenris frowned. “No. I’ll leave as well. There’s no reason for me to stay.” 

Isabela scoffed and cocked one graceful eyebrow. “You’re even stupider than Hawke,” she announced. She then lowered her voice to a murmur. “Listen, Fenris, I only say this because I care.” 

Fenris scowled more deeply at the serious expression on Isabela’s face. She pursed her lips. “If you don’t fuck Hawke soon,” she said, “then I will.”

A wicked little smile lifted the corners of her lips, but Fenris was not amused. The Rivaini rogue was so damned nosy, always sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. Isabela didn’t know what she was talking about. Fenris couldn’t be sure that Hawke meant it with the flirting. She flirted with everyone. Cullen could barely make eye contact with her without blushing like an untouched youth. 

But it wasn’t about Hawke, not really. It was Fenris himself. He must have been with someone before; he was almost sure of it. But that was the problem. He _wasn’t_ sure. 

The surging of lust, the impulse to reach out and stroke her unexpectedly tattooed skin - it was like breathing, easy and confident and _good_ , but he couldn’t be completely sure that he’d… done this before. He couldn’t fucking remember. 

Isabela made it sound so simple, when the truth was anything but. 

Fenris didn’t want to tell Isabela that. He didn’t want to tell that to anyone. It wasn’t anyone’s business but his own. 

He took a quiet, deep breath to calm his frustration, then shot Isabela a little smirk. “I admit I’m surprised you haven’t already,” he retorted.

Isabela winked. “Who said I haven’t?” she drawled. Then she nudged him playfully with her hip and sauntered away.

Fenris rolled his eyes, then followed Isabela and the others down the stairs. 

Hawke was hugging Merrill goodbye while teasing Aveline about staying out so late, and Fenris slowly joined the others as they bade her farewell. Isabela kissed her noisily on the cheek and laughed raucously as Hawke playfully slapped her on the ass, and then only Fenris was left. 

He nodded politely. “Hawke,” he said. 

She nodded politely in return. “Fenris.” 

Her eyes were like flames. They danced with brazen orange heat, and Fenris could feel the tips of his ears warming as they gazed at each other. He watched the movement of her throat as she swallowed and the slow rise of her chest as she inhaled, and he remembered the sight of her simple leather bustier…

He wanted to touch her. She was less than an arm’s length away. He wanted to peel back his sleeves, slide his hand beneath her thin silk tunic and up along the golden skin of her midriff. 

Such a simple thing to want. Or so it would seem.

He took a step back. “Goodnight,” he said. 

She exhaled, then smiled ruefully at him as though he’d bested her somehow. “Goodnight,” she said. “Don’t get kidnapped on your way home. I can’t be bothered to make any heroic rescues tonight.” 

Fenris snorted. He could feel his shoulders relaxing and his stomach sinking at her light-hearted levity. “I’ll bring you the eviscerated hearts of anyone who dares to try,” he replied. 

She grinned. “Lovely. We’ll make them into a nourishing stew for Toby. Though it’s probably a bad idea to give a mabari a taste for human flesh.” She knelt to scratch her faithful hound behind the ears. 

Fenris grunted in amusement, then left Hawke’s mansion without further ado. 

The nighttime air was cool as he slunk through the shadows back to his mansion. Fenris breathed deeply as he walked, thankful for the crisp air that cleared the heat from his cheeks and the confusion from his mind.

There was no reason to worry about the blurry fog of his unknown past, because Hawke was simply flirting. It was what she did. The heat in her amber eyes, the intensity of her stare as it hooked into his chest and held him in a tense and breathless stasis: that was just what she did.

He would convince himself of this, in time.

Perhaps.

**Author's Note:**

> [Join me on Tumblr](https://pikapeppa.tumblr.com/) if you like!


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